Southern Flannel Caterpillar....Fluffy Pain

   Am I the only one who will find an interesting critter, pick it up, play with it THEN go research it?  You, know, research it to see if it is potentially harmful.  Yeah, well, maybe I am or, at least, maybe I am the only one that will admit to this goofy practice.  The thing is, I do not carry my phone with me so I do not have an instant method of finding out things.  Google has us all spoiled!

  This afternoon, I noticed that the basil needed water so I was giving them a drink when a critter caught my eye.  Oh, my gosh!  It was the cutest thing ever!  A brownish colored caterpillar was on one of the pots and it looked a whole lot like a tiny kitten!  It even had a tail and long, soft fur!  The two inch long critter was so fluffy that I just had to pet it!  I did!  Then, the thought was to run inside and grab the camera.  I needed photos of this adorable critter!  Yep, all of this happened BEFORE the idea of researching the safety of handling the caterpillar.

  To be honest, after the photos were taken, I did research the critter and found it to be, well, not safe.  This is a Southern Flannel Caterpillar and those lovely, soft hairs can cause skin irritations.  They also hide spines that are connected to venom glands.  If those spines make contact with your skin, they act like tiny hypodermic needles and shoot venom into your body.  Not good.  Not good at all.  In fact, this is considered to be the most venomous caterpillar in the United States!  How about that?  I was playing with a very cute critter that could inflict a good amount of pain.  I am just mighty fortunate that the critter obviously did not see me as a threat.  Thankfully, my hands are not irritated, not itching nor was I pierced by the spines.  

  Folks, this is a case of needing to use a bit of commonsense.  I admit that mine usually flies out the window when I find a critter.  There are very few that I will avoid and those are ones that are quite obviously dangerous.  I need to learn a few lessons in reasoning!  Yep, research that critter before handling and not after.  Sometimes the brain wanders, I guess.